What to make with our new honey??? Make a something for Father’s Day

Ricotta, honeycomb and hazelnut with rhubarb compote

Honey with the comb is honey pretty much as the bees intended. The idea is to eat the whole thing, comb and all. The comb has a chewy, waxy texture and is perfectly edible, but you can discreetly discard it once you’ve sucked all the honey from it, if you prefer.

1 Preheat the oven to 335. While it’s still a little wet from being washed, add the rhubarb to an ovenproof dish and toss with the sugar. Cover with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes, until tender. Leave to cool completely.

2 Turn the oven up to 350. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for around 5 minutes, until they are lightly golden and the skins are starting to split.

3 Tip the nuts on to a clean tea towel. Fold the towel over them and rub vigorously. This will remove most of the skins, but don’t worry if a few stubborn bits remain.

4 Divide the ricotta between shallow serving bowls. Add a spoonful of rhubarb compote to each. Break or cut your honeycomb into 4 roughly equal pieces and place on the ricotta and rhubarb, trickling over any honey that has escaped. Scatter over the hazelnuts and serve.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie DotsonFall days are wonderful, here in our household. We are very laid back. Enjoying the changing of the seasons. Tho’ this fall has been pretty darn mild. I’m not complaining at all. The bees are still coming and going and chickens don’t have to have a heat lamp or a ice melter in the coop. Dogs are running around the property as if they were puppies. Gosh, It makes you say Thank you God and fire up the grill! With the cooler nights and the fall produce at every farmstand calling my name. I decided to grill a couple of steaks along with Roasted brussel sprouts with honey and sriracha. It’s that perfectly, delicious dish that fits into my diet. Calorie counting…I have 10 pounds to go. I love food so what goes in my mouth must be worth the count! This meal counts…when we go out to a restaurant, everyone shares off of each other’s plates. How else will you get to try so many different kinds of dishes.Right!? We found this dish at a local restaurant in town and this is my take or make on the recipe. So tonight we are Grilling Steaks and ROASTing BRUSSELS SPROUTS w/ HONEY & SRIRACHA. …By the time the sprouts were roasted, mixed and served, my sweet husband was only able to fork 3 brussels sprouts before the dish was gone. I could not stop the the humming , yumming and inhaling that took place. I saw nothing but the sprouts and they saw nothing but my mouth. Poor Poor Husband…I gave him the other half my steak, which I was to full to eat… he graciously ate the steak. Here is my version of this fabulous dish! Try it and enjoy!

HONEY SRIRACHA ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

40 minsServes: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

1½ pounds Brussels sprouts

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp paprika powder

2-3 cloves of garlic, diced

dash of lime pepper

1 tablespoon sriracha

3 tablespoons beepothecary honey

1 lime, juiced

INSTRUCTIONS : Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut off the stem end of the sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Cut large sprouts in half.

In a small bowl mix together kosher, salt, onion powder, paprika, garlic, and lime pepper. Place sprouts in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and season generously with Kosher salt mixture. Toss to coat. Place in a single layer on an aluminum-foil lined baking sheet. Roast for 35-40 minutes, shaking the pan a few times throughout the cooking process, until crisp and golden brown on the outside and tender on the inside.

Meanwhile; combine sriracha, honey, and lime in a small bowl. Season with Kosher salt.

Remove sprouts from oven, transfer to large bowl, and drizzle with honey sriracha sauce. Toss lightly to coat and serve immediately.

Now that dinner is served. You can get online and finish your christmas shopping.

Go to BEEpothecary website and find the perfect gifts for that special someone. Check out our gift sets and Don’t forget to use the discount code 10NL15 to get %10 your entire order.

Happy Holidays, Happy hanukkah and Merry Christmas to you and yours! From Steve, Jeannie, Pete and Laurie

It’s been so busy today that I forgot to eat. This really has gotten me to think about having healthy snack, ready to eat at a moments notice. And I’m not talking apples and carrot, which I do have, but something fun for my mouth. Which made me think of a conversation I had earlier in the day with a customer. She has young, school age children who are feeling better, since they have been taking our Propolis oil. But the girls are not crazy about the taste of Olive oil and Propolis. I don’t blame them. It’s not a taste that I crave either:) But like them, I do take it every day! So I suggested she add the Propolis oil in a salad and if she bought some beebread she could add that t0 the girls morning oatmeal or in a yummy smoothie. Propolis tincture can be added to any fruit drinks. Added it to anything if you don’t want to take it straight down your throat. She laughed and asked for some recipes.

First off…

If you don’t know what Propolis is, it’s a resin that the Honeybee gather from tops of trees bud and the bark. They mix it with their enzymes and then they plaster the whole inside of the hive.

It helps insulate the hive, it helps clean the hive and it protects the hive from bacteria and viruses. This same Propolis that helps fight sickness in the hive, will also protect us from the the same viruses and bacteria floating and hanging about us. Propolis icontains flavonoids that are anti viral, anti bacterial, anti microbial, anti fungal and an anti-inflammatory Propolis can be a great dietary supplement to enhance your overall health and boost immunity.

BeeBread is Pollen and Honey mixed together. BeeBread is filled with everything you need to energize your day, workout or recovery. It is loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, protein and iron that will benefit people of all ages and boost the immune system.

Flying about from flower to flower, bees collect pollen in the pollen baskets on their legs and carry it back to the hive. In the hive, pollen is used as a protein source necessary during brood-rearing. The pollen pellets and honey are combined and ferment until the the hard shell of the pollen is dissolve. At that time the bee will feast on it and feed it to their grwoing young.

So back to my phone conversation and my hungry stomach. How can you get Propolis and BeeBread

into you daily route? Here are a three recipes!

Stay Healthy with the Power of BEES

Basil Vinaigrette Dressing

Original recipe makes 1 -1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS

1 cupolive oil

1/2- 1 tsp of BEEpothecaryPropolis Oil

1/3 cupapple cider vinegar

1/4 cupBEEpothecary wildflower honey

3 tablespoonschopped fresh basiL

2 clovesgarlic, minced

PREPARATION

In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, basil, and garlic. Pour over or toss with your favorite salad to serve

Pineapple Coconut Bites

INGREDIENTS

Makes: About 20 cookies

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

INGREDIENTS

FILLING

1 1/4 cups canned crushed pineapple, slightly drained

1 tablespoon BEEpothecary honey

1 tablespoon cornstarch

DOUGH

1/2 cup almonds

6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsalted cold butter

3 tablespoons Propolis Coconut oil or Propolis Olive oil

2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION

To prepare filling: Spoon pineapple into a small saucepan with honey and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Let cool.

To prepare dough: Meanwhile, process almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add confectioners’ sugar; process to combine. Add whole-wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour; process to combine. Drop butter by the tablespoon through the feed tube, processing briefly after each addition. Add oil and pulse once or twice. Add coconut, cornstarch, salt and vanilla and process just until the mixture resembles crumbly, fine meal, but will hold together if pressed.

Reserve a scant 1/2 cup of tart dough to use as crumbled topping.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line mini muffin pans with 20 paper cups.

Drop a scant tablespoon of dough into each paper cup. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the cup, making a well in the center, to form a miniature crust. Spoon 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of the pineapple filling into each crust and top each with some of the reserved crumbs.

Bake until the topping is golden brown and the crust is cooked through (watch carefully toward the end and move the pan to the bottom rack if the top begins to brown before the bottom crust is done), 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pans.

The Land of Milk and Honey

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We posted our application to the Wells Fargo Small Business Contest. Please go to this website every day and vote for BEEpothecary. You can vote multiple time, just on different devices or log into WF multiple times. This will give us a chance to win $25,000 and mentoring for our business! Go and vote now!

1 Chronicles 4:10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie Dotson

Garlic in the garden

Sorry, No honey cooking today! How about garlic.

For years, We had this strange plant growing in our garden. At the time, I loved flower gardening. I had multiple large gardens in my yards. I would add any new or throw away perennials people would give me. And If I didn’t have room, I would make a new garden. Big, Beautiful flower gardens. I had an oasis.

Every Spring and early summer, I would notice this plant. A hardy plant, that would grow a spiked shoot and then over night it would curl. When it flowered, it has tiny little flowers and then it would grow these bulbs off the end. Later the bulbs would drop and the next year I had more plants. I loved the shape and the color. I would use them in flower arrangements and potted arrangements. Still never knew exactly what I had. Until one day, when I dig up a huge mound of them. I eat everything. So I took a deep swiff of it and then bit into it! Yeowzers! I had garlic! GARLIC! All these years, I had Garlic. I love Garlic. Garlic is a staple in my kitchen. It goes in everything I cook. I could grow these, along with other herbs and make food for the family. But Vegetable gardening ? Never a consideration…until!

After a quick internet search on garlic. I learned how to care and grow garlic cloves. I now have 200 garlic plants and that is where the garlic scapes come from. What do you do with all your scapes?? Well we saute’ them with veggies, I roast them with meat, I cut them ups and add them to a salad… or I make this Garlic Scape Pesto is a great way to use something we get a whole heck of a lot of this time of year. When you grow two hundred heads of garlic, guess how many garlic scapes you get? That is correct – you get two hundred garlic scapes. That’s a lot.

Scapes are important to the garlic – it’s how more garlic plants happen. There are little seeds in the bigger round part, and if you leave the scapes in place, they would eventually burst open, scattering ripe seeds around, which will germinate and make more garlic plants. Unfortunately, in so doing, they draw nutrients away from the growing of the bulb they are on – and the bulbs are what is important to us. So, they all have to be cut off. And since we can’t stand to waste anything, we are working on finding ways to use them. They have great taste and very tender and the texture fabulous. Get them early!

I cut a five gallon bucket full of these Garlic Scapes

Fortunately, they are really wonderful in pesto, because we get all the great flavor and they get completely ground up, so texture isn’t an issue. And we LOVE pesto. I make as much of it as I can every summer and freeze it in ice cube trays to enjoy through the winter. Once the pesto is frozen solid, you can just pop the cubes out of the tray and store them in ziplock bags or other containers. You do want to have some trays dedicated solely to pesto and like substances though – the ice cube trays will absorb the flavor and pesto flavored iced tea is surprisingly un-tasty.

Garlic Pesto Ingerdents

You will likely be able to find garlic scapes at your local Farmer’s Market this time of year, or maybe even in your CSA box. If you know someone who grows garlic, they might have some to share – they are worth looking for!

Garlic Scape Pesto

Serves: 1 & ½ cups

Ingredients

½ cup chopped garlic scapes

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

⅓ cup lightly toasted pine nuts or almonds

½ cup fresh basil, packed tightly – then roughly chopped

juice of ½ lemon

kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

⅓ cup good quality olive oil

Instructions

Add everything but the oil to the bowl of a food processor

Process until everything is finely chopped and almost a paste.

Leave the processor running and stream in oil

It will only take a moment of two for the mixture to emulsify – turn off processor.

Leave at room temperature for an hour or so to develop flavors- keep plastic wrap pressed to top surface to keep the top from turning brown.

Can be stored in the refrigerator for several days, or can be frozen.

Garlic Scape Pesto is wonderful anywhere that you would use ordinary pesto – on vegetables, pasta, in sandwiches, topping a bowl of soup – just about anything, really. Experiment to find how you like to use it most! I will be taking this on a camping trip with friends and using this in my dinner preparations.

Enjoy your Garden and Farm, and all it has to offer!

Laurie

Your Health…Powered by BEES!

Luke 11:13NIV If you then, though you are not perfect, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie Dotson

All I want to do is get my garden growing! It’s all I have on my mind, these days. Do I have all my seeds? Where are the shipments? Did I remember to buy non-GMO seeds? When can I get farmer Bud to till up the garden? Why am I so late, in thinking about all of these? Potato SEEDS???? ugh!:(

Yesterday, I was wandering around the yard, watching the clover grow and contemplating the future of my back yard. When I happened upon my wonderful rhubarb plant.

How lovely you are little, big plant! I didn’t think of you and yet here you are. What a blessing:)

A good friend, a couple years ago, gave me a bit of hers. Now I have, this honkin’ mass of beautiful rhubarb. Each stalk is at less, an inch in thickness and two feet long. I pulled out the biggest and longest stalk and then took a bite off the end! WoooDoggy was it tart! I felt like a kid all over.

Growing up in Michigan, My mother always had a plant or two her garden or along a fence line. My sister’s and I would each get a cup of white sugar and a short rhubarb stalk and go to town on it. Dipping the stack in the sugar and then gnawing on the sweet fibers to mix the two flavors. Yummy!

A few days ago my daughter had a birthday. She loves rhubarb. So, I thought for her big Birthday Bash, I would make something with Rhubarb! I came across multiple recipes and with a little experimenting, I made this for Hanna!

Directions:Heat oil in a medium saute pan. Add the shallots, allspice, salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until just softened. Add the ginger and cook 1 minute more. Add the rhubarb, honey and water to the pan. Cook until the rhubarb is just tender — you don’t want it to fall apart. Remove fruit heat and stir in red wine vinegar.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12NIV

PS I’m not a great blogger, but I do love passing on this love of all things delicious! If my grammar, spelling and punctuation is not correct please forgive me. I pray you can see pass that and see you heart.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey

by Laurie Dotson

The day has come for me to change my eating habits. I’ve been trying to lose a few extra cheeky pounds. Really, I’m ok with my weight and how I look, but when last years summer shorts are far to tight around my mid-section. It’s time to change something to drop a few inches off my girly waistline.

Yesterday, My husband took me to lunch at our friends new cafe’ . It’s called The WELL! They create amazing vegan salads, soup, glutenfree breads and treats along with their very own roasted coffee. Lunch was delicious! Should I try this???

So today, I’ve decided to try my hand at veganizm. Really, I need to go gluten-free! I bet I would feel better but that means no more bread!!!!

Oh Lord, you need to help this girl! She can only do this, if YOU help her!

OK! I’m starting with salads that are tasted!

I hate bland foods! Did you hear me! I hate bland diet foods!

This is going to be an interesting journey! I hope I can get your support and ideas!

Chicory and Arugula Salad with Honey Vinaigrette Recipe

Some people like the bitterness of chicory and arugula, but in too large a quantity, the greens can be overwhelming. This straightforward salad tosses the bitter lettuces in a slightly sweet honey vinaigrette to balance things out. Add the crunch of toasted walnuts, and you’ve got a satisfying starter any day of the week.

Whisk together the vinegar, honey, and measured salt and pepper in a small, nonreactive bowl. While constantly whisking, add the oil by pouring it in a thin stream down the side of the bowl. Whisk until all the oil is incorporated. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.

Pour the vinaigrette over the reserved greens and, using your hands, mix to coat the salad. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired. Top with the walnuts and serve.